Old Point Loma Lighthouse

San Diego County · Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma · location approximate

Here at Point Loma Head on the afternoon of September 28, 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, distinguished Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, commanding the flagship San Salvador, made his first Alta California landfall and thus discovered what is now the State of California. Cabrillo with his companions came ashore on Point Loma at what is now Ballast Point. The lighthouse was constructed in 1854–55.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

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